Various headrests are known to the art which include a headrest body pivotally coupled to a mounting post for enabling the headrest body to pivot in a forward and rearward direction to achieve a desired position of angular adjustment chosen by the user. Such headrests are also known to include various ratcheting detente mechanisms which allow the headrest to pivot forwardly but limit its rearward pivotal movement for safety reasons. Numerous examples of such headrests are shown in prior art U.S. Pat. Nos. These include: 4,378,898 to Maruyama, granted Feb. 1, 1983; 4,558,903 to Takagi, granted Dec. 17, 1985; 4,640,549 to Yokota, granted Feb. 3, 1987; 4,674,797 to Tateyama, granted Jun. 23, 1987; 4,678,232 to Ishida et al, granted Jul. 7, 1987; 4,733,913 to Tateyama, granted Mar. 29, 1988; and 4,830,434 to Ishida et al, granted May 16, 1989.
Many of these prior art mechanisms are complicated in design and require numerous linkages and the interaction of several parts for the operation of the ratchet mechanism. Each of these ratchet mechanisms includes a pawl member pivotally supported by a pawl carrying support member for enabling the pawl to interact with a series of associated ratcheting teeth of a rack. These devices further include a spring connected at one end to the pawl and at the other two a support for biasing the pawl toward an operational position into engagement with the teeth. In all cases, however, the pawl is supported in cantilever fashion by the support member and as such is subjected to torsional forces applied by the spring. Over time, this may affect the performance of the detent mechanism.